Swoop with the fish eagles. The best of lakeshore life at Malawi’s leading southern lakeshore resort.

NESTLED BETWEEN LAND AND LAKE

Malawi, the warm heart of Africa, lends itself beautifully to rest and relaxation with a pace of life un hurried as in ages past – amid a people renowned for their friendliness. Major national hotel chain Sunbird Hotels, which manages 7 stylish properties through out Malawi, offers widely different but complementary experiences at unique “leisure and pleasure” hotels in Malawi.

Sunbird Nkopola Lodge is the premier beachside resort on south-western Lake Malawi and one of the very best places from which to enjoy the attractions of the historic and remarkably beautiful lakeshore between Monkey bay and Mangochi.

The Lodge, 24km north of Mangochi, sits in its own beach-lined bay, curving to rocky headlands, north and south. Across the lake are some of the best sunrises and the most stunning views in Africa.

It is 1 km from the main Mangochi – Monkey Bay road. It is from Sunbird Nkopola Lodge that the famous Lake Malawi Marathon, the longest freshwater sailing event in the world, starts in July each year when the southeast wind, the Mwera, is at its strongest.

The Mbira Restaurant offers an a la carte menu, and a broad range of local and international dishes. Excellent use is made of the locally caught fish. The Malindi Bar offers a range of local and international beverages. The swimming pool bar has a more casual atmosphere. The Leisure Centre at the southern of the bay offers a very informal beach life with drinks and snacks served.

The hotel has one of the most elegant conference facilities in Malawi – The Lakeshore International Conference Centre whose main hall boasts a capacity of up to 1000 delegates sitting or 1500 standing. It is fully equipped with podium, audio-visual equipment, electronic LCD projector, OHP and screen, and hosts various activities like conferences, executive boardroom meetings, weddings, cocktail receptions etc.

The Lakeshore International Conference also has an additional of 3 conference rooms, the largest of which, has a total capacity to host 120 delegates, for conferences, meetings, seminars, workshops and product launches.

The Shire river drains Lake Malawi at its most southern point, just south of Sunbird Nkopola Lodge and by the town of Mangochi. First established on the east bank in 1891, historic Fort Johnson, later renamed Mangochi, was a garrison against slave traffic. Its strategic value, guarding the entrance to the lake from the coast, made it headquarters for the country’s diminutive naval force, the stern-wheelers on the river and the steamers on the lake.

Today it stands at one end of a beautiful bridge across the Shire and has a market, shops and a busy, happy atmosphere. The Lake Malawi Museum is here. As Fort Johnston, Mangochi was once an important anti-slaving centre and later a colonial administrative town. Broad tree-lined streets, part of the earliest town planning in Central Africa and some remaining, rather dilapidated, buildings are evidence of a colonial heritage. A colonial monument to Queen Victoria stands near the new bridge, and overlooking the river are two mementos of Lake Malawi’s rich history – a gun used in Britain’s first naval victory in World War 1, and a memorial plaque to the 145 who drowned in Lake Malawi’s worst disaster, the sinking of the M.V. Vipya during a storm in 1946.

Equally historic Cape Maclear, home to the first Livingstonia Mission, established in the memory of David Livingstone, is a lovely one hour drive north, much of it through the Lake Malawi National Park which protects much of the littoral and all the lovely wooded islands in this area. Malawi’s commercial fisheries are here two. The famed lake bream, the Chambo, is farmed very successfully by Maldeco Aquaculture near Nkopola Lodge and tropical palms and other botanical exotica are grown at Tropex. Boazdulu, a rocky island off Club Makokola, mentioned by David Livingstone in his “Exploration of the Zambezi and its Tributaries and the Discovery of Lake Nyasa and Chirwa” (London 1865), is well worth the short cruise to see giant monitor lizards basking on the rocks. The population of fish eagles around Nkopola is said to be the densest in Africa their haunting cries are heard everywhere, dawn till dusk. Tame birds come when whistled to swoop on an enticing fish thrown for them beach.